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General Assembly Activities

Monday, January 7, 2019

GENERAL ASSEMBLY ACTIVITIES

House Republicans Legislative Priorities
This morning, the House Republicans announced their legislative priorities for the 2019 session. Teacher pay has been an issue discussed the past several months and was one of the priorities presented today. The House Republicans stated that HB 1003, school corporation expenditure targets, will be their bill to deal with teacher pay.

HB 1003 will be sponsored by Representatives Dale DeVon and Todd Huston. The bill states the following:

“Each school corporation shall make every reasonable effort to transfer no more than fifteen percent (15%) of the total revenue deposited in the school corporation’s education fund from the school corporation’s education fund to the school corporation’s operations fund during a school year.”

The bill goes on to talk about the creation of an “excessive education fund transfer list” by the DOE for corporations that transfer more than 15% in a school year. A corporation on this list “shall prepare and submit explanatory documentation” to the DOE and State Board of Education within 90 days of being placed on the list. The documentation must include a corrective action plan to meet the target percentage. No timeline for the plan is included in the bill. If the DOE determines that the “explanatory documentation” is not satisfactory, the DOE can request the corporation to explain their position to the State Board of Education. The bill also states that a corporation that is on the “excessive education fund transfer list” for at least 2 consecutive years may have to explain why to the State Board of Education. HB 1003 does not speak to any penalties except for the need to document why the 15% target is not met. Further, there are no provisions for additional efficiencies or a direct reduction of administrators.

It is interesting to note that the language from HEA 1009 (2017) has been effective for seven days, and the House Republicans are putting major revisions in that language in the proposed HB 1003.

IASBO will continue to review this bill further to see the potential impact on school corporations fiscal operations. There are several questions that need to be answered regarding HB 1003. Of course, this is very early in the process and there are four months to work on this issue.

The other House Republican priorities that impact public education are as follows:

EDUCATION COMMITTEES THIS SESSION
It has been decided that the House and Senate Education Committees will both meet on Wednesdays during the 2019 session. The House will be in the morning and the Senate in the afternoon. In past years, the House Education Committee had met on Tuesday and Thursday mornings.

The Mission of the Indiana Association of School Business Officials is to deliver programs and services to the membership for the purpose of advancing Indiana’s public education. IASBO meets this Mission by developing an extensive professional development program and by advocating for the membership with the Indiana General Assembly and state agencies